The Golden Cradle
A cradle of gold in a Swedish folk tale, in which a special child is laid and around which the tale's wonder unfolds. In 'The Golden Cradle', the precious cradle marks the child's destiny and the family's fortune, and its making or finding drives the story. The cradle, the most intimate of household objects, is here lifted out of the everyday into the realm of the marvellous, a sign that the child in it is no ordinary child. Tales of golden cradles and foundling princes appear across Europe, and in the Swedish version the treasure is bound up with the home it blesses. The golden cradle is an e